Chapter 43

Last chapter Mariko saved her girls—with the help of two super heroes and a cyborg. So now Tony is back at Mariko's side and Mariko and her friends will be staying with the Team in the Cave. How will the Team cope with this? Well you're about to find out! ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!

Wally stared at Mariko as she sat across him and the other members of the Team. Her girls sat in another room will she, Robin, and the others talked business. Finally after a long silence Mariko smirked.

"Might I suggest taking a picture? It'll last longer." She said in a snobbish tone.

"What is she doing here?" Conner growled. Mariko sat back in her seat placing her hands behind her head.

"Hiding out." She said matter-o-factly, Wally and Conner glared. Robin sighed.

"She needs a place to lie low until Savage stops sending people to kill her and she can leave the country." He said. Mariko nodded.

"Plus I'm not alone here, I gotta couple of girls here. They aren't like me, all I want is to keep them safe." She said.

"And you expect us to just believe that?" Artemis asked, Mariko scowled.

"In case you've forgotten Riza and my twins mean more to me than my own life. I want them safe, and I want to make sure Savage can never find them again." She said in a dark tone.

"She's not lying, besides that's what we do right? Protect the innocent?" M'gaan asked.

"Yeah, and I got three of those innocent types. I just need to lie low for a little while. I'll be out of your hair in no time." Mariko said, "And you'll be out of mine."

"Riight, cause you're such an honest girl." Wally said dryly, "Not that it's gonna matter; once Batman and the League get word of this."

"You didn't tell batman?" Mariko asked, Robin pursed his lips.

"No one has to find out. They'll spend a bit of time here, then we'll transfer them to a safe house." He said.

"Yeah no problem." Mariko said. "So deal with it."

"We're gonna get caught." Wally muttered. Mariko stood and turned her back.

"Since when do I care about getting caught?" She asked, "Like I said I'll be out of your hair in no time flat."

~0~

"Inuyasha!" The twins shouted at the sight of Wolf. They were in the main hall of the cave with Yukie when the large mutated mutt came in. Riza stared.

"Woaw big dog." She muttered.

"That's Wolf." Conner said walking into the room. The trio looked over as he came into the room.

"Wolf? Real original big guy." Riza said, "You got any word on our friend?"

Conner scowled at the trio. The twins stared up at him and held each other's hand tightly, the hid behind Riza.

"Oni…" The duo mumbled, Conner scowled, Riza scowled back.

"Don't mind these two. It's just with that look you look like a mountain ogre." She said with smirk, "You're Superboy, the one who helped Mariko Save us from that Gizmo kid."

"Supa…boi?" Haruko and Haruhi mumbled to each other. Riza looked to the twins and nodded.

"I'm Riza, the girls behind me are the twins." She said, "The one on the left is Haruko, and the one on the right is Haruhi."

"We heard that…" Haruhi.

"We're staying here." Haruko mumbled, Conner scowled as Yukie barked at him. The twins smiled.

"That's the word as of late, but don't get too comfortable. You're boss says you won't be here for long." Conner grunted. Riza frowned.

"Boss? What do you mean boss? Mariko-san's our friend." She said.

"Onee-chan." The twins said happily, Riza nodded.

"Riza! Girls! Where are you?" Mariko shouted as she came into the room, "Oh there you three are."

"Mariko-chan!" The twins shouted running to her and wrapping their arms around her.

"Geeze," Mariko mumbled, "Come on you three, it's way past your bedtime."

Without even acknowledging Superboy's presence in the room Mariko left with her three girls. Conner huffed, and walked away.

"Mariko-san," Riza began as she watched Mariko put the twins to bed, Mariko looked over.

"What is it Riza-chan?" she asked, "Are you worried again?"

"N-no, you can take care of it, I know that." Riza said, "But when is this going to be over? When are you finally going to come back and stay with us again?"

Mariko smiled and walked over to the young former fighter and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Relax Riza, it'll all be over soon, I promise." She said with a reassuring smile, Riza frowned, "Now get some rest, I'll be back in a bit."

"You promised Mariko-san, don't forget that." Riza mumbled, crawling into bed, Mariko looked over her shoulder at her friend.

"Please, I'm the smartest girl alive, it'd be stupid to go back on a promise." She said with a grin then left the room. When she exited she was met with Robin.

"Hey Robi-kun." She said, Robin scowled. "Nani?"

"We need to talk." He said sternly. Mariko smirked and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Ooh you're serious aren't you? Kyawaii. You're so cute when you're serious." She said with a giggled.

"Would you cut that out for two minutes?" Robin shouted, Mariko glared and snatched his mask off, "What the heck?!"

"Quiet." She hissed, Robin narrowed his eyes, "I just put Haruhi and Haruko to sleep, you have any idea how hard that is?"

"Give it back." Robin growled. Mariko stuck her tongue out playfully.

"You want it? Come get it." She said then started walking away, Robin followed.

"Mariko this isn't funny. Give me back my mask!" He said keeping his hand covering his face enough for no one to see. Mariko giggled.

"And I am being serious," She said turning, "See this is my serious face. Now walk and talk there Dickie."

"Robin." He said sternly, thankful that everyone else had decided to leave on account of Mariko being here.

"Grayson?" Mariko said, having a bit of fun at Robin's expense. Robin growled, and tackled Mariko to the ground.

"Give. It. Back." He said sternly, pinning Mariko to the ground. Mariko stared.

"You seriously don't like me do you?" she asked. Robin frowned going to snatch his mask, "I want an answer and I want to see you answer."

"I don't ok? Happy?" Robin spat.

"Then why do you keep helping me?" She asked, there was a long silence between the two, finally Robin got off of her and stood up.

"Keep the stupid mask, I've got a dozen just like it." He growled, Mariko laid on the ground for a moment more before she sat up and stared at the back of Robin's head. She frowned, this wasn't any fun anymore.

"Just stay out of sight when Batman and the others come by." Robin said then walked off. Mariko stared after him.

"I lost the game." She mumbled looking at the mask she had ripped off of him. She sighed, and let it fall to the ground, she then stood and looked to the Zeta pods, and over her shoulder, "Take care of my girls, Robin."

~0~

Tony had been watching for a while, though he couldn't hear what they were saying, he couldn't help but think of what might have happened. Of course he thought the worse of the situation; Robin was ontop of her for god's sake! He sighed, and turned his back on the scene and walked away before he saw the end of it all.

As he walked back to the room he shared with Mariko—for now—he began to think back on how he wound up in this situation. Where would he be if Mariko hadn't cracked his skull? Tony then ran his hand against the spot Mariko had hit him that day. It had been stitched up with a metal wiring to keep the metal parts of him together with his human parts. He then began to imagine where he would be if it wasn't for Mariko. Still at Gotham Academy, still being bullied by the jocks, still being ignored by girls, there was no way he'd ever be able to go back to that. Not now.

"Tony-boy!" Mariko shouted behind him. Tony jumped in surprise and turned to her. Mariko glared.

"Let's go, no time to waste." She ordered. Tony nodded and followed after her.

~0~

The next morning the Team gathered in the main hall, they all had noticed, that Mariko and Tony had disappeared….yet again. Only this time she left Riza and the twins behind.

"Nani..?" Riza mumbled still half asleep when Robin came to her and the other two. She yawned.

"Mariko's gone" He said, Riza rubbed her eye and gave Robin a look.

"Of course she is," She mumbled then went to go back to sleep only to have Robin pull her up right.

"What do mean 'of course?' You knew she was leaving?" He asked.

"Yeah, she's not going to let Luthor live after what he did to us. Or was that Savage?" Riza mumbled, "Either way she took off maybe last night after Haruko and Haruhi went to bed."

Robin scowled, was that why Mariko was acting so weird? Snatching his mask and forcing him to answer her stupid questions? She was going to take off again. He growled.

"Aren't you just a bit mad she left you behind?" He asked standing up. Riza shook her head.

"No, she doesn't want us getting hurt." She said, "For someone who has a crush on her you sure don't know anything about her. Do you?"

"I don't have a crush on her. And what's that supposed to mean?" Robin asked. Riza looked up.

"Mariko-san trusts you to keep us safe, do you know how hard it is for her to trust people?" She asked, "Especially now."

"She lied."

"Would you have let her go if she didn't?" riza asked looking back at Robin. Robin paused, "That's what I thought. You really need to think about some things there Robin. I'm going back to bed. Ja-ne."

Robin scowled, Riza was right he did need to think, but not on the same things she thought.

End of chapter fourty…..erm…I forget. This is going to be ending soon. Like hopfully withing the next few chapters. I have some spelling errors in this A/N but I too lazy to go back forgive me. REIVEW PLEASE! See you later armadillos—unless I see you first haha!